3rd Circuit Upholds Lower Court in Comcast Cable Installer Antitrust Suit

Cable installation companies Cable Line and McLaughlin Communications never showed what authority the court has to extend antitrust liability to cover a purchaser with market power in a vaguely defined market opting to reduce its supplier base, and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' role "is not to imagine that extension for them," a three-judge panel ruled Friday. In the decision affirming a lower court's dismissal of an antitrust and discrimination complaint against Comcast, the 3rd Circuit also said the appellants didn't present arguments and authority to support their claims Comcast chose a rival cable installation company because it's black owned. Judges Thomas Ambro, Felipe Restrepo and Morton Greenberg filed the docket 18-2316 opinion, which Ambro penned. Appellants' outside counsel told us Monday there are no further appeals to be had since it's a non-precedential decision, and said both installation companies have gone out of business due to Comcast's consolidating its supplier base.